One Spanish fan was so disgusted with his team's effort that he offered to swap his expensive strip with my ragged old orange t-shirt, despite the protestations from his girlfriend. An hour later though, the desperate Spaniard tracked me down in the crowd and begged me to reverse the swap. "It was my friend's shirt," he said sheepishly. "And he was not happy I had given it away."
Naturally I relented after our moment of glory and my new friend promised to send me a Spanish strip in New Zealand.
During the match, an English supporter on honeymoon was interested to hear I was from New Zealand as his estranged father was a Maori expat from a small town in Northland.
He remember the name of the place, but the West Ham fan quite enjoyed having a Maori player as one of the stars of the Hammers.
Another person with Kiwi connection on the Copacabana was Jack Tame who was having a quiet beer after a few days on the road for TVNZ. The correspondent from New York was clearly enjoying the World Cup and not keen to go back to the Big Apple.
First though he had to console his buddy in a Socceroos shirt after Australia's first-round defeat to Chile.
Over 50,000 Australians are said to have made the trek to Brazil and hundreds were at the Fan Fest along with thousands of Chilean supporters who seem to dominate every street corner.
Chile took a quick 2-0 lead and the Australians were preparing themselves for a repeat of the 5-0 humiliation against Germany four years ago.
Many started drowning their sorrows, but after Tim Cahill put them back in the frame, the boys from Down Under rushed back from the bar to the big screen. After an emotional rollercoaster ride, the hope of a positive result was destroyed by a late Chilean goal, but the fans were proud of their young Socceroos. "But it won't get any easier against Spain and Holland," one fans summarised. "But just watch us in four years."
